you didn't have fun with any of the games purchased? ;) No, it's also the developers and publishers who won't update their games.

I will say that I think GOG should try to "re-own" DRM-free gaming (even if they continue working on Galaxy) by doing something like writing a thoughtful article on DRM and DRM-free.

I agree that missing important patches is the biggest issue. I don't care about achievement or leaderboards.

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@anyone: If GOG goes out of business, if DRM-free is important to you, will you buy exclusively on Steam, or use other services like Zoom-Platform too?

How would you not be able to start the game? If you don't have an internet connection at the time you can start Steam in an offline mode and play your games fine. That is assuming those games aren't DRM-free to begin with and then you can just launch them through the games own executable without the client running at all if you don't want.

I have a DVD copy of the game. I install it but i don't install/use steam.... You can surely put 2 and 2 together from there.

But just in case you don't. It refuses to run unless i have steam running in the background. And if steam isn't installed and i'm not logged in it won't let me run it anyways.

btw i abhor the steam client.

People who buy here because of DRM free don't want "most" games "likely" to be DRM free. That's (IMO) the worst thing about the Hitman release.
I read the forums, and I'm not even interested in that game - still, I find it important that I can buy just any (single player) game and be sure (enough) about it being DRM-free.

I'm sure that you know what I'm saying; you just don't mention it because it's not important to YOU.

Umm... not quite.

In GOG, you can just download the game. And that's it. You're good to go. Enjoy the game.

In steam, you're forced to download and install an extra client, before being allowed to download a game.


GOG doesn't force a stupid client on you.

In that case:
- Zoom: if they sell a game that interests me, sure, why not.
- Steam-DRM-free-only: same as above.
- Steam-DRM'ed-only: download a cracked version, and maybe buy it at rock bottom price.
...
- I have enough games already. Maybe I'll just focus on those.

In a streaming-only future:
- I have enough games already.
It's important to you, so I'm glad that you get that here.
Me, I find the method of delivery irrelevant / not as important, as long as the game itself is DRM-free. Installing a client to download a game shouldn't be needed, but I can think of only one case where it's an actual issue: old PC / old OS (while only wanting to buy/play old games).
That's not my use case - but it's definitely a negative aspect of Steam.

The Steam Client is DRM

If you launch a DRM Free Steam game via the 2 default methods presented to the user (Steam created Short cut or from the client itself) Steam will enact its DRM protocols. It will note the Process ID and will remotely terminate it if instructed via the the DRM, it will lock the library or call for other instances on remote machine to be terminated.

To stop this you have to bypass the client and launch the game direct from the EXE. Given the majority of Steam users wouldn't know how to do that, Steam is DRM

Steamworks DRM being optional:
Yes I've read the documentation. It tells devs to return error and close the program if SteamAPI.init() fails. It fails if you've not got the game in your steam account (or not got steam running). Its the first layer of DRM of Steam.

I've also talked to Devs about it. Yes you CAN use various parts of the steamworks.api without Steam, but it requires additional work and time to implement. That is assuming the dev tools you're using will allow it. Redout would have gone a day 1 full multiplayer release here if the tools that Dev team used supported Galaxy.api. it didn't so we didn't get Redout until they rewrote the code for a single player Switch release.

Last time I looked about 20 of my Steam games would run without Steam.

And while most of the 905 GoG game will be on Steam, I doubt more than 20% would be DRM free on Steam as the developers would have used Steam.api for various functions.


Again with DRM, you're given a company a blank cheque to do whatever they want. Steam is Software as a Service, the contract to use Steam is a subscription contract, the licenses for each game are issued via Valve not the publisher. So If Valve decides, for what ever reason it wants, to push an updated version of a DRM Free game in a DRM wrapper you have no choice.

I guess that depends on your perspective. A "smart" phone is no different from a wall phone: both let you make phone calls. The fact that they do so in very different ways, and that the "smart" phone can/does do other things as well is pretty important to some people, but not to people who just care about making phone calls, even though that "smart" phone may be doing other things in the background, including using up bandwidth on your connection. The Steam client is a close-source internet-connected blob While it may function as a downloader, it can (and does) perform many other actions as well, and you have absolutely no control over what those actions are. With a web site, I use open source web browsers, and in fact download utilities that bypass the Javascript (which I otherwise have to keep under control using additional utilities). I don't let any closed-source software access the Internet any more (I used to allow it on a separate machine that I used just for that purpose, but I don't maintain separate machines any more).

While it may not be DRM specifically, DRM is not the only bad on-line behavior I want to eliminate. I expect more than just DRM-free from GOG: "No activation or online connection required to play." Requiring use of a binary blob for download constitutes a violation of the "Activation" part of that promise, as far as I'm concerned.

Correct. And a binary blob that is required to download your games is one, as well. That is why I will never use Steam or any other service that places Internet-connected binary blobs in front of my ability to buy, download, or play games, even if that blob is not technically DRM (yet).

Make sure I've got installers for everything downloaded and updated, then slowly play through my massive library... likely in date order. I'll look out for a DRM Free replacement service, but if none appears just give up on PC gaming.

I have quite a few of my games backed up but need to do like a dozen more. (and some got updates so I'll need to get those new versions too :P) I also have lots of unplayed games, and will probably start buying more music instead because I don't have much time to invest in gaming.

Now you're just trolling. Some people want to play games, not play the economy/OS/service/store/social media.

All my GOG single player games are DRM-free. "what other people say" (or do) isn't something that keeps me up at night.
I don't care for the conjecture game... maybe one day GOG will claim your firstborn, who knows - it's rarely a rational discussion.

It was gifted to me in 2012. It's when they started pushing steam and requiring it for a bunch of stuff, and when they started replacing some game discs with just codes. Annoying as hell.

And yes i still use 7. I refuse to touch 8, 10, or even the upcoming 11, i simply don't trust MS enough with as much shady stuff they've been doing. There's nothing wrong with 7, why should I change?

That reminds me of another huge Plus for GoG over Steam

If I snuff it, my next of kin can go to GoG and they will transfer ownership to wife or daughter.

IF they go to Steam, Valve will close the account.

Having it online is potentially riskier (malware) than a Windows version that still gets security patches.
That said, it's probably safer for some people to have e.g. Windows XP online than for other - I click on everything/anything - people using W10.

My significant other would have all my offline installers and doesn't even need the account. ;-)